Cyber Bites

The ICO has given Met officials until September to implement appropriate measures. The Information Commissioner's Office has slapped the Metropolitan Police with two enforcement orders over its handling of data requests. After launching an investigation, the ICO discovered a backlog of more than 1,100 open data requests from UK citizens. Describing this as a 'cause for concern', the ICO said nearly 680 of them were over three months old. Source: Computing

ABN Amro is working with QuTech to ensure that banks can protect data against quantum computers in the future. Netherlands bank ABN Amro is working with researchers to explore how quantum computing technology can be used to secure online banking. The banking giant is working with QuTech, which was jointly established by Delft University of Technology and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, to prove that quantum key distribution can be used to secure...

An online database containing the records of more than 5 million customers apparently belonging to MedicareSupplement.com was left open and accessible to the public, according to a report from Comparitech. In order to get a quote from the TZ Insurance Solutions–owned website, MedicareSupplement.com, users are required to enter personal information. Though not an insurance company, the site does allow users to find supplemental medical insurance through the US-based insurance marketing website. Source: Infosecurity Magazine

Hackers accessed emails and file sharing systems of some customers of cloud provider PCM Inc. During a May 2019 intrusion, hackers nicked administrative credentials that the cloud vendor uses for managing customer accounts in Microsoft Office365 and appeared to want to use stolen information to perpetrate gift card fraud in a scheme that resembled a breach at Indian outsourcer Wipro, according to a report by KrebsOnSecurity. Source: SC Magazine

One of Huawei's biggest rivals - Nokia - has said the UK should be wary of using the Chinese firm's equipment. The Finnish company said Huawei's telecoms kit had vulnerabilities that meant it posed a risk to 5G networks. Nokia and Sweden's Ericsson are competing with Huawei to sell next-generation telecoms equipment. Huawei is seen as leading the race in many markets, but the US is putting pressure on allies, including the UK, to bar...

The EU is to conduct war games to prepare for Russian and Chinese cyber-attacks, in response to a series of incidents that alarmed European governments. Pekka Haavisto, Finland’s foreign minister, said an increase in the prevalence of meddling required a reaction from the 28 member states. During meetings in Helsinki in July and September, EU interior and finance ministers will be asked to manage fictional scenarios. Source: Guardian

Sat Nav spoofing is a growing threat to in-car driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicles, warns Regulus. Security researchers claim to have been able to hack into the navigation system of a Tesla Model 3, getting the vehicle to turn itself on. In early June, security specialists from Regulus conducted a test drive of the vehicle using its autopilot feature and discovered a potentially lethal security flaw. Source: Computing

Huawei’s problems keep piling up as a security firm specializing in IoT devices found numerous vulnerabilities across the company’s entire product line. Finite State said it scanned more than 1.5 million files embedded within nearly 10,000 firmware images supporting 558 products looking for risks including hard-coded backdoor credentials, unsafe use of cryptographic keys, indicators of insecure software development practices, and the presence of known and 0-day vulnerabilities. Source: SC Magazine

UK firms rank cyber-attacks as a top business issue, but are stalling in cyber security best practice, lagging behind top performers in India. UK organisations are failing to make progress towards strong cyber security and are facing paralysis as cyber criminals become more advanced. This is the conclusion drawn from the findings of the 2019 Risk:Value report by security firm NTT Security based on a poll of more than 2,200 non-IT decision-makers in 20 countries....

Firefox's random password generator expected to launch later this fall. Mozilla is adding a random password generator to Firefox. Google added one to Chrome and Chromium-based browsers in the fall of 2018, with the release of Chrome/Chromium v69. The Firefox random password generator is expected to become publicly available for all Firefox users with the release of Firefox 69, scheduled for release in early September, roughly a year after Chrome 69. Source: ZDNet